Ray Batten's 1965 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport convertible looked sharp enough to have been restored. But Batten, a recent transplant from Annapolis to Hagerstown, said he's done little more than paint it since he bought it 15 years ago.

Asked how the car rides, he said, "Lovely - like a Cadillac."

Stacy A. Crabtree Sr. of Hagerstown said he and a friend spent seven years building his 1932 Chevrolet pickup. Other than a last detail or two, they're finished, as of last year, Crabtree said.

He worked on other vehicles until he got knee-deep in working on the truck.

"I kind of sacrificed all the rest of them for this," Crabtree said.

The pickup appeals to him because of its 1930s "gangster look," he said.

Classic cars can be time-chewing addictions, said Jeff Johann, who lives near Hedgesville, W.Va. He said he has a horse shed packed with car parts, but no horse.

He and his wife, Monika, whiled away the afternoon near her car, a 1981 Gazelle reproduction of a 1929 Mercedes Benz - built on the chassis of a 1981 Pinto.

Not far away was Jeff Johann's car - a hodgepodge Volkswagen Beetle with a 1974 body, a 1966 chassis and an engine and transmission of unknown years.

"Volkswagens are a strange beast," he said. "You just rebuild them over and over."

The Beetle is for sale - $5,000 or best offer. Jeff Johann said the car must go because he's building a house.